Bike Reviews

For many years the only respectable town bike was a clapped-out rehab job made beautiful by select, totally unreasonable upgrades (such as silk tubulars on a $50 junkyard newsie), plus relentless use and general neglect. It was about patina, not trying too hard, letting the rattles work themselves out. You just rode around on these bikes—you didn’t go on rides. Spending real money on them seemed pointless.

Today, a lot of cyclists, myself included, think that a town bike is as worthy of our desire—and cash—as the finest racing machines. I want a spirited accomplice whether I’m rushing to work or dawdling down a new alley. And, for the same reason I buy art for my walls, I want my town bike to be aesthetically inspiring.

The Shinola Bixby is one of the most beautiful bikes I have piloted—and one of the most fun. Based in Detroit, Shinola is a startup (founded by part of the team that launched Fossil watches) just beginning to produce its first handmade-in-the-States timepieces,­ leather bags, and notebooks, plus the Bixby and the porteur-style Runwell. Both bikes come with a deep pedigree. They’re designed and spec’d by Sky Yaeger, whose resume includes Swobo, Spot, and Bianchi, where she conceived the far-ahead-of-its-time Milano townie and the now-iconic Pista track frame. And the TIG-welded, double-butted, steel Shinola frames are made by Richard Schwinn’s Waterford Precision Cycles—the continuation of the family’s handbuilt frame tradition that otherwise would have ended with the demise of Schwinn’s legendary Paramount program. These two veterans made the Bixby (named for a shoe polish produced by the original Shinola) nearly mischievous in the way it teases you into bombing corners. No surprise: The seat and head angles are closer to a Classics bike than a cruiser.

The details are as considered as the geometry. The ports for the internal cable routing are like art deco pieces, and the copper head badge transfixes (as do the dropouts and serial-number plate on the chainstay). The Japanese Crane bell is the nicest I’ve ever rang. The overall look gracefully blends traditional, such as the box crown fork, with cutting edge, such as disc brakes. The sole hiccup is the shifting pod for the hub, which sits outboard of the right rear dropout—unnoticeable on almost any other bike but a blemish here. Luckily, I don’t see it when I’m riding—which is mostly how I enjoy the Bixby.—Bill Strickland

Buy it if: you’re discerning enough to know the difference between Shinola and the other thing.